{"title":"NSUN6 inhibitor discovery guided by its mRNA substrate bound crystal structure","authors":"Fumei Zhong, Tian Pu, Qian Hu, Mingwei Li, Lei Wang, Suman Wang, Ke Ruan, Yunyu Shi, Beicheng Sun, Yiyang Jiang, Mengqi Lv","doi":"10.1016/j.str.2024.12.021","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"NSUN6 preferentially catalyzes the methylation of cytosine nucleotides in mRNA substrates, which enhances transcription. Dysregulation of NSUN6 catalysis drives the oncogenesis of certain cancers. In this study, we determined the crystal structure of human NSUN6 in complex with its S-adenosyl-L-methionine analog and a bound NECT-2 3′-UTR RNA substrate at 2.9 Å resolution. The complex structure reveals how NSUN6 recognizes the specific CUC[CU]A consensus motif of the substrate and facilitates the methyl transfer from S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) to mRNA. By combining the structural data with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based fragment screening, a virtual screening, and a further comprehensive biochemical verification, we identified thiamine disulfide as a non-SAM analog lead compound that competes with the CUC[CU]A substrate for binding to NSUN6. Our findings pave the way for the discovery of potent inhibitors for the treatment of NSUN6-driven cancers in the future.","PeriodicalId":22168,"journal":{"name":"Structure","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Structure","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2024.12.021","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
NSUN6 preferentially catalyzes the methylation of cytosine nucleotides in mRNA substrates, which enhances transcription. Dysregulation of NSUN6 catalysis drives the oncogenesis of certain cancers. In this study, we determined the crystal structure of human NSUN6 in complex with its S-adenosyl-L-methionine analog and a bound NECT-2 3′-UTR RNA substrate at 2.9 Å resolution. The complex structure reveals how NSUN6 recognizes the specific CUC[CU]A consensus motif of the substrate and facilitates the methyl transfer from S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) to mRNA. By combining the structural data with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based fragment screening, a virtual screening, and a further comprehensive biochemical verification, we identified thiamine disulfide as a non-SAM analog lead compound that competes with the CUC[CU]A substrate for binding to NSUN6. Our findings pave the way for the discovery of potent inhibitors for the treatment of NSUN6-driven cancers in the future.
期刊介绍:
Structure aims to publish papers of exceptional interest in the field of structural biology. The journal strives to be essential reading for structural biologists, as well as biologists and biochemists that are interested in macromolecular structure and function. Structure strongly encourages the submission of manuscripts that present structural and molecular insights into biological function and mechanism. Other reports that address fundamental questions in structural biology, such as structure-based examinations of protein evolution, folding, and/or design, will also be considered. We will consider the application of any method, experimental or computational, at high or low resolution, to conduct structural investigations, as long as the method is appropriate for the biological, functional, and mechanistic question(s) being addressed. Likewise, reports describing single-molecule analysis of biological mechanisms are welcome.
In general, the editors encourage submission of experimental structural studies that are enriched by an analysis of structure-activity relationships and will not consider studies that solely report structural information unless the structure or analysis is of exceptional and broad interest. Studies reporting only homology models, de novo models, or molecular dynamics simulations are also discouraged unless the models are informed by or validated by novel experimental data; rationalization of a large body of existing experimental evidence and making testable predictions based on a model or simulation is often not considered sufficient.